View from London

Hello from The National.

Here are this week’s most compelling and exclusive stories from the UK and Europe.

BIG PICTURE

Mayor strolling home

Polls show Londoners are likely to re-elect Sadiq Khan as Mayor, despite many being critical of his eight-year record in office.

Victory would stretch his rule into a second decade and he has his eyes on legacy projects such as making the River Thames safe enough to swim in within 10 years, mirroring an Olympic Games clean-up of the Seine in Paris.

Mr Khan's position is helped by the Conservative Party’s deep unpopularity, meaning its challenger Susan Hall struggles to raise her profile.

The drum she beats is the Mayor’s record on knife crime and a pledge to reverse a low-emission traffic policy that sparked a revolt in London suburbs last year.

A boy, 14, was stabbed near a Tube station two days before polling day. Social media is rife with slurs associating Mr Khan with the incident.

He called the Hainault attack “devastating and appalling” as the anger over violent crime resurfaced.

It all underlines a political weakness that has not been fully exploited in Thursday's third-term bid.

“Sadiq isn’t a hugely popular mayor in terms of his record,” Chris Hopkins of polling company Savanta told The National.

"He’s seen to have a good record in terms of the things that don’t matter that much to Londoners.

“He’s got a good record on equality and diversity and green spaces and things like that, but less so on the cost of living, on the economic side of things, on crime in particular, and those things do rank higher to Londoners.”

But Ms Hall is “fighting a losing battle” against the tide of national politics, while Mr Khan has proved capable of shoring up his core vote.

“That is going to be predominantly younger voters, it's going to be predominantly those from an ethnic minority background," Mr Hopkins said.

"In London, that just gives Susan Hall a smaller pool to fish in, frankly.”

One of Mr Khan’s campaign messages is about “defending our diversity and uniting our communities”, and he has tried to tread a careful line on the Israel-Gaza war amid tensions on London’s streets.

Mishaps have been rare but potentially damaging.

In a recent interview, Mr Khan suggested there was no such backlash against the Mayor of Greater Manchester because “he’s not called Ahmed Burhani, he’s called Andy Burnham, whereas I’m called Sadiq Khan”.

By pointing the finger at Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, Mr Khan erred.

He apologised, adding Mr Mirvis was a friend with whom he had “worked hard together to unite our city and celebrate our diversity”.

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On the block

A very long time ago a Telegraph journalist was sent to sketch a music conference as a platform for Europe's self-satisfied elite enjoying themselves as they took over the continent.

With the story almost written about the plutocrats at play, he called the picture desk only to be told that the newspaper's proprietor was at the venue in the hills as well.

That was enough to cue a quick rewrite, which dramatically changed the tone and slant of the story about European off-duty power brokers.

I mention this because after a fraught period of control by independent directors the Telegraph and its stablemate are back on sale after the UAE-backed US fund RedBird IMI withdrew its attempt to secure ownership.

It had promised investment in the titles but was hit by a public interest intervention from the government that stayed the process.

On Tuesday the government confirmed it was going ahead with legislation to cap state-backed investment in newspapers as the sale got under way.

“The government knows that we cannot overstate the importance of these publications to our democracy,” Kevin Hollinrake, a junior minister, told the Commons.

“By establishing a new regime within the Enterprise Act 2002, the Bill will prevent foreign states having ownership control or influence over a UK newspaper or news magazine.”

Iran explained

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron says Britain must not label Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorists as this would end diplomatic relations and result in him sending messages to Tehran “via France”.

Lord Cameron said indirect messages sent to Iran from countries that did not have diplomatic relations, including America, led to frequent requests to the British from the Iranians to explain the meaning of the entreaties.

Asked if the IRGC should be proscribed as a terrorist group, Lord Cameron said this would immediately end diplomatic relations of a kind that allowed exchanges to take place even as the schisms grew wider.

Concerns about the IRGC and others waging a subterranean influence campaign in the UK, which includes plots against dissidents or those it deems enemies, have risen on the Conservative benches.

Ministers are regularly asked about the prospects of designating the IRGC as a terror group.

Those less sure of their brief than the former prime minister often mumble about matters under review.

Lord Cameron has given the most clear-cut response – that he wants to be able to pick up the phone to the Iranian Foreign Minister amid the horrendous tensions surrounding its Middle East role.

I think we can consider the matter parked.

Carbon capture

Scientists have created a porous material they say can capture carbon dioxide more quickly than planting trees.

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland believe these molecules can help solve society’s biggest challenges by storing greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.

Capturing and storing carbon could slow and even reverse the level of fossil fuel emissions in the atmosphere.

The researchers say more development is needed for the technology to be used at scale.

“Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon but it’s very slow. We need a human intervention,” said Dr Marc Little, co-leader of the research.

Molecules with complex structures could also be used to remove toxic compounds known as volatile organic compounds from the air, and play an important role in medical science.

OTHER STORIES THIS WEEK